Mayoral Candidate Christine Quinn's Sketchy Side

Remember the Tammany Hall days when overweight men in suits that imbibed too much alcohol ran a political machine while smoking cigars in a back room? Well, none of us remember those days, because we're living in a post "political reform" era when our politicians are supposed to be fairly elected to public office by the people and uphold the law thereafter. Yet corruption is even older than any political system, as we've seen firsthand an awful lot lately here in New York. The latest victim of the egoism that leads politicians to believe they won't be caught with their hands in the cookie jar: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

The Post runs an exclusive story today that the woman expected to be a mayoral candidate once Bloomberg has to be replaced, had been doing some shady bookkeeping. Her office hid millions of dollars--and that's your money, taxpayers of New York--by setting up fake charitable organizations to shelter the cash so that they could later turn around and give it out for political favors. The Post reports that among the organizations she set up were "Immigration Improvement Project of New York" (charitable donations of $300,000) the "Coalition for a Strong Special Education" (funds of $400,000) and the "American Association of Concerned Veterans" (and those vets apparently gave $422,763. You know, they can't get proper health care from the federal government, but they sure can donate for the cause!)

I mean, come on, these sound like pretty fake organization names. What did Madame Speaker do? Blame the underlings in her office. Classy. Want to know why I don't buy this? She once voted against putting sprinklers in pet stores for fire emergencies. And any person that's against saving puppies and kittens from being cooked in their cages can't be trusted.